Virus impacts cocoa industry

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
A LOCAL cocoa farmer in East Sepik says the coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on the local industry.
Isaiah Sanduma, from Bukinare village, Yangoru-Saussia, has about 2,880 cocoa tress which he had planted on four blocks of land.
“Firstly, we in the village are in a state of shock and confusion on the lockdown,” he told The National.
“This has caused negative impact on the value chain of cocoa buying and exporting.
“It is business as usual for our cocoa farmers even though the cash is not available on hand for their (cocoa farmers) wet cocoa beans due to the lockdown.
“We depend entirely on the sale of cocoa beans for our basic needs in the village,” he said.
“The SOE (state of emergency) has very much crippled the cycle of cash flow we used to have in our village setting.”
Sanduma said there was about 180,000 cocoa farmers in East Sepik alone.
“As a farmer myself, I am getting K270 – K500 fortnightly when the price is up.”
Sanduma is not new to cocoa farming. He started farming cocoa as a boy.
“I have been engaged in cocoa farming since my childhood days, learning from my father from German cocoa trees to hybrid cocoa.
“I was one of the first cocoa farmers in West Yangoru to bring in hyprid clone cocoa in 2014, and established a commercial cocoa nursery and supplied to the entire East Sepik,” he said.